1911: For The Love Of The Commander

originally published in Gun Digest and authored by Richard Mann

The Colt Commander may not be the best fighting pistol of all time, but it’s Top 5 for sure and one of the most iconic.

After World War II, the U.S. Military wanted a lighter and more compact pistol for officers to carry. So, Colt created a 1911 with a 4.25-inch barrel chambered in 9mm Luger that was built on a lightweight aluminum alloy frame. In 1950, Colt began manufacturing that pistol—known as the Commander—but they also offered it chambered for the .38 Super and the .45 Auto.

Twenty years later, Colt introduced an all-steel version of this shorter-barreled 1911 called the Combat Commander, and they renamed the original alloy-framed gun the Lightweight Commander. When I became a police officer in 1992, a Colt Lightweight Commander chambered in .45 Auto was considered by many professionals to be the premier off-duty/concealed carry gun.

Of course, I had to have one, but finding one like I wanted was not easy. In 1983, Colt added a firing pin safety to all their 1911s, and this made the trigger—for lack of a better word—horrible. I wanted a pre-80 Series Lightweight Commander chambered for the .45 Auto, because, well, back in the ’90s everyone knew you couldn’t stop a bad guy with a 9mm.

My first Commander was the Lightweight model in .45 Auto. I stumbled on it in a local gun shop in 1994. I laid it away, paid for it with overtime money, and then sent it and a lot more overtime money off to Novak’s in Parkersburg, West Virgina, for some custom work. That pistol lived on my side for almost a decade when I was off duty and on some stakeouts. I even used it in local combat pistol matches and won sometimes. I shot it so much that the aluminum alloy frame developed a hairline crack, so I sold it.

By NC ScoutPublished On: December 4, 2025Categories: Uncategorized1 Comment

About the Author: NC Scout

NC Scout is the nom de guerre of a former Infantry Scout and Sergeant in one of the Army’s best Reconnaissance Units. He has combat tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He teaches a series of courses focusing on small unit skills rarely if ever taught anywhere else in the prepping and survival field, including his RTO Course which focuses on small unit communications. In his free time he is an avid hunter, bushcrafter, writer, long range shooter, prepper, amateur radio operator and Libertarian activist. He can be contacted at [email protected] or via his blog at brushbeater.wordpress.com .